Data transfer method and server computer system

ABSTRACT

A server computer system generates, for data stored in a transmission source server, index information including a data identification number, a data type, information for the data such as copyright information and an address of a server whereat the data are stored, and transmits only the index information to a hand-held information terminal carried by the owner of the transmission source server, thereby, a data transfer is requested for transferring, to a transmission destination server, data indicating the index information from the hand-held information terminal to the transmission destination server in accordance with the index information held by the hand-held information terminal and an address of the transmission destination server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/893,736,filed on Jul. 15, 2004, which application claims priority from Japaneseapplication JP2003-408404 filed on Dec. 8, 2003, the entire disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a data transfer method for a servercomputer, and particularly to a data transfer method that uses indexinformation.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Description of the Related Art

Generally, hand-held information terminals are inferior to servercomputers in their storage device capacities and in their processingcapabilities as controllers. Therefore, a hand-held information terminalhas been proposed wherein, “in order to improve the efficiency withwhich data is used by hand-held information terminals, index files, withdata, are transmitted by server computers to hand-held informationterminals” (e.g., JP-A-2000-215160).

According to the technique described in JP-A-2000-215160, for thetransmission of index information to hand-held information terminals,data transmission is performed only between server computers andhand-held information terminals. Thus, conventionally, employinghand-held information terminals for the exchange of data by servercomputers is difficult. That is, data transfers between server computersmust be performed at the locations whereat the server computers areinstalled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to resolve this problem, it is one objective of the presentinvention to provide a data transfer method whereby data transfersbetween server computers can be performed at locations other than thosewhereat the server computers are installed.

To achieve this objective, a data transfer method comprises the stepsof: transmitting index information, including data identificationinformation and an address, to a first hand-held information terminal bya first server computer;

-   -   transmitting the received index information to a second        hand-held information terminal by the first hand-held        information terminal;    -   when, based on the received index information, the second        hand-held information terminal requests for transferring data to        a second server computer, transmitting the data to the second        server computer by the first server computer.

According to the present invention, since the index information transfercan be performed between the hand-held information terminals, thetransfer of data indicated by the index information can also beperformed between the server computers, and thus, the transfer of databetween the server computers can be performed at locations other thanthose whereat the server computers are installed.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description of the embodiments of theinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a servercomputer system according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a home server according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hand-held information terminalaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a home serveraccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the hand-heldinformation terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing index information according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing data list information according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according to thefirst embodiment, upon the reception of a data list request;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according to thefirst embodiment, upon the reception of an index information request;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according tothe first embodiment, for the transfer of index information betweenhand-held information terminals;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according tothe first embodiment, for the transfer of data between home servers;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according to asecond embodiment of the present invention, to generate indexinformation, a thumbnail file and data list information;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a servercomputer system according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing index information according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the processing performed, according tothe third embodiment, upon the reception of an index informationrequest;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a data list analysis according to the firstembodiment; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing an example configuration of aserver computer system according to the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the present invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiments, ahome server is employed as an example server computer.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration for a firstembodiment of the present invention. A reference numeral 100 denotes ahome server (A), 101 denoting a hand-held information terminal (A) heldby an owner of the home server (A)100, 110 denoting a home server (B) ofa data transmission destination, and 111 denoting a hand-heldinformation terminal (B) held by an owner of the home server (B)110. Thehome server (A)100 and home sever (B)110 are connected to a network suchas Internet. Index information is generated for data such as digitalcontents stored in the home server (B)110, and is transmitted to thehand-held information terminal (A)101 which stores the index informationand displays the contents thereof, as required. When the owner of thehome server (B)110 desires to obtain the data indicated by the indexinformation displayed on the hand-held information terminal (A)101, theowner requests that the index information is transferred from thehand-held information terminal (A)101 to the hand-held informationterminal (B)111.

Based on the received index information, the hand-held informationterminal (B)111 requests to the home server (A)100 for the transmissionto the home server (B)110, across a network such as the Internet, of thepertinent data indicated by the index information. On receiving therequest from the hand-held information terminal (B)111, the home server(A)100 transmits the data, across the network, to the home server(B)110. The home server (B)110 then receives and stores the datatransmitted by the home server (A)100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the home server (A)100. The homeserver (A)100 includes: a data storage unit 201 for accumulating contentdata, such as images, moving pictures and music; an index informationmanagement unit 202 for generating and managing index information forthe data accumulated in the data storage unit 201; a hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 203 for communicating with ahand-held information terminal via an infrared, wireless or wirenetwork; and a network communication unit 204 for communicating withanother device across a network such as the Internet. The home server(B)110, which is the data transfer destination, has the same blockconfiguration, but for the reception of data only, the index informationmanagement unit 202 and the hand-held information terminal communicationunit 203 may not be provided.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hand-held information terminal(A)101. The hand-held information terminal (A)101 includes: a servercommunication unit 301 for performing communication with the home server(A)100; a hand-held information terminal communication unit 302 forperforming communication with another hand-held information terminal; anetwork communication unit 303 for performing communication with anotherdevice such as a home server, across a network such as the Internet; acontroller 304 for performing the processing related to the indexinformation and for controlling the entire hand-held informationterminal (A)101; an input unit 305 which is a human input interface; anoutput unit 306 which is a human output interface; and an indexinformation storage unit 307 for storing the index information. Thehand-held information terminal (B)111, which is an index informationtransfer destination, has the same block configuration.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration for the home server(A)100. A CPU 401 controls the entire home server (A)100 and correspondsto the index information management unit 202 in FIG. 2. A main storagedevice 402 is used as a work memory for the temporary storage of variousdata. A secondary storage device 403 is, for example, a hard disk or anexternal memory device and corresponds to the data storage unit 201 inFIG. 2. An input device 404 is, for example, a keyboard and is used forentering characters or processing commands. A display device 405 is, forexample, a CRT, an LCD or an LED and is used for displaying theprocessing results, error information and the current state. A networkcommunication device 406 for communicating with another device, isconnected to a network such as the Internet by a LAN cable, a wirelessLAN or a telephone line. The network communication device 406corresponds to the network communication unit 204 or the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 203 in FIG. 2 for communicatingwith another home server.

An infrared communication device 407, which corresponds to the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 203 in FIG. 2, uses infrared tocommunicate with a hand-held information terminal, which may usewireless or cable communication instead of infrared. An AV input/outputdevice 408 inputs or outputs images and sounds for various contentsstored in the data storage unit 201. A bus 409 is provided for theinterconnection of these devices. The home server (B)110 has the samehardware configuration, but for the reception of data only, the infraredcommunication device 407 may not be provided for the home server (B)110.Further, for communication with the hand-held information terminal,instead the infrared communication device 407 being provided, thenetwork communication unit 303 may be employed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101. The hardware configuration of the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 is substantially the same as that of thehome server (A)100 in FIG. 4 with the exception that the portability istaken into account. A CPU 501, which corresponds to the controller 304in FIG. 3, controls the entire hand-held information terminal (A)101. Amain storage device 502 is used as a work memory for the temporarystorage of various data. A secondary storage device 503, whichcorresponds to the index information storage unit 307 in FIG. 3, can bea hard disk, a flash memory or an external memory device, for example,although when the portability is taken into account, the employment of alightweight device is preferable. An input device 504 such as a button,which corresponds to the input unit 305 in FIG. 3, is used for enteringcharacters and processing commands. A display device 505 such as an LCDor an LED, which corresponds to the display unit 306 in FIG. 3, is usedfor displaying the processing results, error information and the currentstate.

A network communication device 506 is connected to a network such as theInternet by a hand-held telephone network, a PHS network or a wirelessLAN, and is used to communicate with another device. The networkcommunication device 506 corresponds to the network communication unit303 or the hand-held information terminal communication unit 302 in FIG.3, and is used for communicating with a home server across a network. Aninfrared communication device 507, which corresponds to the servercommunication unit 301 or the hand-held information terminalcommunication unit 302 in FIG. 3, uses infrared to communicate with thehome server or another hand-held information terminal; however, insteadof infrared, wireless or cable communication may be employed, and whenthe network communication device 506 is employed to perform allcommunications, the infrared communication device 507 may not beprovided. A speech device 508 is used to transmit speech across thehand-held telephone network or the PHS network, but when the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 does not have a speech function, the speechdevice 508 may not be provided. A bus 509 is provided for theinterconnection of these devices. The hand-held information terminal(B)111 has the same hardware configuration.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing example index information for data stored inthe home server (A)100 used for the first embodiment. In FIG. 6, an XMLform is used for writing the address of the home server (A)100 whereatthe data are stored, an index information generation number that isincremented each time index information is transferred, a maximumgeneration number and information concerning the data. An element 601encloses an address 602 for a server such as the IP address for the homeserver (A)100 whereat the data are stored. An element 603 encloses ageneration number 604 that is incremented each time, and an indexinformation transfer between hand-held information terminals isperformed. An element 605 encloses a maximum generation number 606 forthe generation number 604, and is used for limiting the number of timeswhen index information may be transferred from a hand-held informationterminal to another terminal. When the number of transfer times for datacorresponding to the index information is limited to one, thedissemination of data contrary to the intent of an owner can beprevented. An element 607 encloses a variety of information concerningthe data, such as a data identification number 608, a data type 609,copyright information 610, a thumbnail file name 611 and a data name612. The data name 612 may be either the file name for the data or someother name. The storage location of the data in the home server (A)100is managed by the home server (A)100 based on the identification number608. For this management, a unique identification number is allocatedfor each set of data stored in the home server (A)100, and a correlationtable, wherein identification numbers and their respective data storagelocations are correlated, is managed by the home server (A)100. As isdescribed above, since the index information includes identificationinformation, such as a data identification number and the Internetaddress of the home server, the hand-held information terminal canaccess the home server and designate the data that is to be transferred.The identification information content is not limited to numbers,characters may also be used.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing example list information for each set ofdata stored in the home server (A)100. In FIG. 7, the XML form isemployed to write the same information as the index information for eachset of data.

In this embodiment, before transmitting the index information for thedata stored in the home server (A)100 to the hand-held informationterminal (A)101, the list of the data stored in the home server (A)100is displayed by the hand-held information terminal (A)101 so thatdesired data may be designated. For this data designation, the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 must first obtain the list of data stored inthe home server (A)100. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the sequentialprocessing performed by the hand-held information terminal (A)101 whenrequesting, from the home server (A)100, the list of data shown in FIG.7. When the user employs the input unit 305 of the hand-held information(A)100 to enter a data list request, or when a system, for example,issues a data list request, the controller 304 generates a data listrequest command for the data list request and the server communicationunit 301 transmits the data list request command to the home server(A)100 (step S801). When the hand-held information terminalcommunication unit 203 of the home server (A)100 receives the data listrequest command (step S802), the data stored in the data storage unit201 of the home server (A)100 are analyzed (step S803). During the dataanalysis process at step S803, a variety of information concerning thedata, such as the data identification number, the data type andcopyright information, is analyzed. When the data are image data, acheck is performed to determine whether a thumbnail is included, becausea thumbnail is sometimes included in image data (step S804). When athumbnail is included in the data, only the thumbnail is extracted fromthe data and a thumbnail file is generated (step S805).

When it is determined at step S804 that a thumbnail is not included inthe data, or when a thumbnail file is generated at step S805, the datalist information shown in FIG. 7 is generated, based on the datainformation analyzed at step S802 and the thumbnail file name generatedat step S805 (step S806). A check is then performed to determine whetherall the data stored in the data storage unit 201 of the home server(A)100 have been analyzed (step S807). When there are data that have notyet been analyzed, program control returns to step S803 and the abovedescribed processing is repeated, and a variety of data information isadded to the data list information. When all the data have beenanalyzed, the data list information is transmitted by the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 203 to the hand-held informationterminal (A)101 (step S808). When a thumbnail file has been generated atstep S805, this file is also transmitted at step S808. When the servercommunication unit 301 of the hand-held information terminal (A)101receives the data list information and the thumbnail file transmitted atstep S808 (step S809), the received data list information is analyzed(step S810) to determine whether a thumbnail has been included (stepS811). When a thumbnail has not been included, the data list informationis displayed on the display unit 306 (step S812); however, all theinformation may not be displayed, only the data names. When a thumbnailis included at step S811, both the data list information and thethumbnail are displayed on the display unit (step S813).

In this embodiment, through the processing in FIG. 8, the list of thedata stored in the home server (A)100 is displayed by the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101. However, the data list may be created asweb contents by the home server (A)100, and the web contents may bedisplayed using the browser of the hand-held information terminal(A)101. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the processing for creating webcontents representing the list of data stored in the home server (A)100.First, data stored in the data storage unit 201 of the home server(A)100 is analyzed (step S1601). During the data analysis process atstep S1601, a variety of information concerning the data, such as thedata identification number, the data type and copyright information, isanalyzed. When the data is image data, because a thumbnail is sometimesincluded in such data, a check is performed to determine whether thereis an included thumbnail (step S1602). When a thumbnail is included inthe data, only the thumbnail is extracted from the data and a thumbnailfile is generated (step S1603). When at step S1602 the data did notinclude a thumbnail, or when a thumbnail file was generated at stepS1603, web contents data, which represent the data list information andwhich are written in the HTML form, are generated based on the varietyof information concerning the data analyzed at step S1601 and thethumbnail file name generated at step S1603 (step S1604). Then, a checkis performed to determine whether all the data stored in the datastorage unit 201 of the home server (A)100 have been analyzed (stepS1605). When there are data that have not yet been analyzed, programcontrol returns to step S1601, the above processing is repeated, and avariety of information concerning the data is added to the data list webcontents. When all the data have been analyzed, this processing isterminated. The web contents obtained through the processing are thenopened to the public on the Internet, so that the hand-held informationterminal (A)101 can access the data and display the data list.

As is described above, since the data list need not be transmitted tothe hand-held information terminal, both the communication fees and theprocesses performed between the home server (A)100 and the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 can be reduced.

When the user has selected desired data using the data list shown in theweb contents, only the index information that has been designated may betransmitted. With this arrangement, both the amount of data to betransmitted and the load imposed on the memory of the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 can be reduced.

In the first embodiment, desired data in the list of the data stored inthe home server (A)100 are designated and displayed, through theperformance of the processes shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, by the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101, and the index information for the desireddata is stored in the hand-held information terminal (A)101. FIG. 9 is aflowchart showing the process sequence performed when the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 transmits a request to the home server(A)100 for the transmission of index information for the designated datashown in FIG. 6. The user employs the input unit 305 to designatedesired data on the data list that is displayed, through the processingshown in FIG. 8, by the hand-held information terminal (A)101. As aspecific example, the user moves a cursor across the data list displayedon the display unit 306, selects desired data, and depresses a button.When data is thus designated by the user using the input unit 305, thehand-held information terminal (A)101 generates an index informationrequest command for the designated data, and the server communicationunit 301 transmits the index information request command to the homeserver (A)100 (step S901). In this case, the index information requestcommand includes the data identification number shown on the data listin FIG. 7 and the identification number for the hand-held informationterminal (A)101. When the hand-held information terminal communicationunit 203 of the home server (A)100 receives the index informationrequest command transmitted at step S801 (step S902), deviceverification is performed based on the identification information thatis included for the hand-held information terminal (A)101 (step S903).For the device verification, identification information for thehand-held information terminal (A)101 must be registered in advance withthe home server (A)100. When the device verification fails at step S903,the hand-held information terminal communication unit 203 transmits anerror message to the hand-held information terminal (A)101 indicatingthe device verification failed (step S904).

When the server communication unit 301 of the hand-held informationterminal (A)101 receives the error message transmitted by the homeserver (A)100 at step S904 (step S905), a message indicating that thedevice verification has failed is displayed on the display unit 306(step S906) and the process sequence is thereafter terminated. When thedevice verification is successful at step S903, the data stored in thedata storage unit 201 is selected based on the identification number forthe designated data included in the index information request commandand the data is analyzed (step S907). During the data analysis processat step S907, a variety of information concerning the data, such as thedata identification number, the data type and copyright information, isanalyzed. When the data is image data, a check is performed to determinewhether a thumbnail is included, because a thumbnail is sometimesincluded in image data (step S908). When a thumbnail is included in theimage data, only the thumbnail is extracted from the data and athumbnail file is generated (step S909). When at step S908 a thumbnailwas not included in the data, or when a thumbnail file is generated atstep S909, index information as shown in FIG. 6 is generated based onthe information for the data analyzed at step S907, the thumbnail filename generated at step S909 and an address, such as the IP address ofthe home server (A)100, indicating the location of the server (stepS910). For the index information, at step S910, an initial value of “0”is set as a generation number representing the number of times an indexinformation transfer between the hand-held terminals has been performed,and a pre-designated maximum generation number is designated.Thereafter, the index information generated at step S910 is transmittedby the hand-held information terminal communication unit 203 to thehand-held information terminal (A)101 (step S911).

When a thumbnail file was generated at step S901, this thumbnail file isalso transmitted at step S911. When the server communication unit 301 ofthe hand-held information terminal (A)101 receives the index informationand the thumbnail file transmitted at step S911 (step S912), the indexinformation and the thumbnail file are stored in the index informationstorage unit 307 (step S913) and the process sequence is thereafterterminated.

In this embodiment, the user determines whether the index informationfor all the data stored in the home server (A)100 should be transferredto the hand-held information terminal (A)101. Therefore, only the indexinformation for the data that the user determines is necessary must betransferred. For the transmission of the index information for all thedata stored in the home server (A)100, only the processing shown in FIG.9 need be performed for all the data.

In this embodiment, through the performance of the processing in FIG. 9,instead of the main body of the data, only the index information and thethumbnail file, which has a small data size, are stored in the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101, so that the data can be carried easilywithout posing a threat to the memory capacity of the hand-heldinformation terminal.

An explanation will now be given for the processing performed totransfer the index information stored in the hand-held informationterminal to another hand-held information terminal. The indexinformation and the thumbnail stored in the hand-held informationterminal by performing the processing shown in FIG. 9 are displayed onthe display unit 306. Not all the index information need be displayed;only data names or thumbnails may be displayed. At this time, it ispreferable that the names of data for which copyright information hasbeen provided be displayed, for example, in different colors, so thatthe user can easily identify them. The user employs the input unit 305to designate the displayed data to be transmitted; specifically, basedon a plurality of sets of index information and thumbnails displayed onthe display unit 306, the user moves the cursor and selects desired databy depressing a button. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processsequence for transmitting index information for the selected data fromthe hand-held information terminal (A)101 to the hand-held informationterminal (B)111. The hand-held information terminal (A)101, which is theindex information transmission side, analyzes the index information forthe designated data (step S1001). During the analysis process at stepS1001, the generation number for the index file and the maximumgeneration number are obtained, and whether copyright information and athumbnail file are available for the data is determined. Then, a checkis performed to determine whether the generation number for the indexinformation is greater than the maximum generation number (step S1002).When the generation number is greater, it is assumed that the indexinformation can not be transferred, and an error message to this effectis displayed on the display unit 306 of the hand-held informationterminal (A)101 (step S1003). The process sequence is thereafterterminated.

When the generation number is not greater than the maximum generationnumber at step S1002, a check is performed to determine whethercopyright information is included in the index information (step S1004).When copyright information is included, a check is performed todetermine whether the transfer of the data indicated by the indexinformation is permitted (step S1005). When it is determined at stepS1005 that the transfer of the data is inhibited, an error messageindicating that the transfer of the data is inhibited is displayed onthe display unit 306 of the hand-held information terminal (A)101 (stepS1006). The process sequence is thereafter terminated. When it isdetermined at step S1005 that the transfer of the data is permitted, orwhen copyright information that inhibits a data transfer is not includedat step S1004, the index information is transmitted by the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 302 of the hand-held informationterminal (A)101 to the hand-held information terminal (B)111 (stepS1007). Further, a check is performed to determine whether a thumbnailfile is included in the index information (step S1008). When a thumbnailfile is included, the thumbnail file is also transmitted to thehand-held information terminal (B)111 (step S1009). When the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 302 of the hand-held informationterminal (B)111 receives the index information transmitted by thehand-held information terminal (A)101 at step S1007 (step S1010), thegeneration number for the received index information is incremented byone (step S1011). And when the thumbnail file is transmitted by thehand-held information terminal (A)101 at step S1009, the hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 302 of the hand-held informationterminal (B)111 also receives this thumbnail file (step S1012). Then,the thus received index information and thumbnail file are stored in theindex information storage unit 307 of the hand-held information terminal(B)111 (step S1013). The process sequence is thereafter terminated.

An explanation will now be given for the process sequence for the issue,by the hand-held information terminal (B)111, of a request to the homeserver (A)100 for a data transfer to the home server (B)110, and for thetransfer of the data by the home server (A)100. FIG. 11 is a flowchartshowing the process sequence according to the embodiment for thetransmission, by the hand-held information terminal (B)111, of a requestto the home server (A)100 for a data transfer to the home server (B)100,and for the transfer of the data to the home server (B)110. Thehand-held information terminal (B)111 analyzes the index informationimmediately after obtaining it through the processing in FIG. 10 (stepS1101). In the process performed at step S1101 for analyzing the indexinformation, an address such as an IP address, which indicates thelocation of the home server (A)100, and information such as a dataidentification number are obtained from the index information. Then, anaddress, such as an IP address, indicating the location of the homeserver (B)110, which is the data transfer destination, is entered usingthe input unit 305 (step S1102). The address of the home server (B)110may be registered in advance with the hand-held information terminal(B)111, and the process at step S1102 can be eliminated. Following this,a data transfer request command, which includes the data identificationnumber obtained at step S1101 and the address of the home server (B)110entered at step S1102, is generated and is transmitted by the networkcommunication unit 303 to the address of the home server (A)100 usingTCP/IP, for example (step S1103). The network communication unit 204 ofthe home server (A)100 receives the data transfer request command acrossa network such as the Internet (step S1104). Based on the dataidentification number included in the received data transfer requestcommand, data stored in the data storage unit 201 of the home server(A)100 is selected and is analyzed (step S1105). A check is performed todetermine whether copyright information is included in the data (stepS1106). When copyright information is included, a check is performed todetermine whether the transfer of the data is permitted (step S1107).

When it is determined at step S1107 that the transfer of the data isinhibited, an error message indicating the transfer of the data isinhibited is transmitted by the network communication unit 204 of thehome server (A)100 to the hand-held information terminal (B)111 (stepS1108). When the network communication unit 303 of the hand-heldinformation terminal (B)111 receives the error message transmitted bythe home server (A)100 at step S1108 (step S1109), an error messageindicating that the transfer of the data is inhibited is displayed onthe display unit 306 (step S1110). The process sequence is thereafterterminated. When copyright information for inhibiting the data transferis not included at step S1106, or when it is determined at step S1107that the transfer of the data is permitted, the network communicationunit 204 of the home server (A)100 employs TCP/IP, for example, totransmit the data to the address of the home server (B)110 that isincluded in the data transfer request command received at step S1104(step S1111). When the network communication unit 204 of the home server(B)110 receives the data across a network such as the Internet (stepS1112), the received data is stored in the data storage unit 201 of thehome server (B)110 (step S1113). The process sequence is thereafterterminated.

According to this embodiment, the transfer of index information needonly be performed between the hand-held information terminals, so thatthe transfer of data indicated by the index information can also beperformed between the home servers. As a result, the transfer of databetween the servers can be performed even at locations, away from home,other than those whereat the servers are installed.

Furthermore, when the hand-held information terminals are carried,persons engaged in a data transfer can employ the hand-held informationterminals to confirm, in person, that the data transfer has beencompleted. In this case, since the persons concerned confirmed, inperson, that the data transfer was completed, they are free fromanxiety.

Further, since according to the embodiment only the thumbnail and asmall amount of the index information can be provided for a hand-heldinformation terminal to handle, a large quantity of data need not bestored in the hand-held information terminal, and this saves on the useof the memory capacity in the hand-held information terminal. Inaddition, costs incurred for communication between the server and thehand-held information terminal and between the hand-held informationterminals can be reduced.

Moreover, according to the embodiment, the number of times transfers ofindex information are performed between hand-held information terminalscan be limited, and in addition to imposing a limit on the number oftimes data can be copied, the repetitive copying of index informationcan be prevented.

For the inter-server data transfer system according to the embodiment,data storage locations in the home server are correlated using anidentification number; however, data storage location information may beincluded in the index information. When, for example, the home serverfile system has a directory structure, an absolute path from the rootdirectory of a data file, or a relative path from the current directory,may be included in the index information. With this arrangement, thehome server need not manage data identification numbers.

According to the inter-server data transfer system for this embodiment,a thumbnail file for an image is created only when the original imageincludes a thumbnail. However, for an image that does not include athumbnail, a thumbnail file may be prepared by reducing the size of thisimage, and for a moving image, a thumbnail file may be prepared byreducing the size of the first picture of the moving image. When themoving image conforms to the MPEG system, the first I picture may beextracted and downsized to prepare a thumbnail file. It is preferablethat a thumbnail file of a size that can even be displayed by ahand-held information terminal be prepared while taking the displaycapability of hand-held information terminals into account. With thisarrangement, the thumbnail for another image or another moving picturecan be displayed.

Further, according to the inter-server data transfer system of theembodiment, in the process in FIG. 10 for the transfer of the indexinformation between the hand-held information terminals, the indexinformation is stored in the index information storage unit of thehand-held information terminal on the reception side. However, insteadof storing the index information, the inter-server data transfer processshown in FIG. 11 may be immediately performed. As a result, even whenthe designation of the number of generations and the maximum number ofgenerations and the determination process at step S1002 in FIG. 10 areeliminated, the repetitive copying of the index information can beprevented.

In the above embodiment, all the data have been analyzed; however, onlydata in an area designated by the hand-held information terminal may beanalyzed. With this arrangement, the load imposed on the home server canbe reduced.

In FIG. 1, one home server is employed as the data transfer destination,and the owner of the home server carries one hand-held informationterminal. However, a plurality of home servers may be employed, and aplurality of hand-held information terminals may be carried. Thisexample will be described while referring to FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is adiagram showing the configuration of a server computer according to asecond embodiment of the present invention wherein a hand-heldinformation terminal (C)121 and a home server (C)220 are additionallyprovided for the system shown in FIG. 1.

In the second embodiment, a hand-held information terminal (A)101 hasalready transmitted index information to a hand-held informationterminal (B)111, and thereafter, transmits the stored index informationto the hand-held information terminal (C)121. Upon receiving the indexinformation, the hand-held information terminal (C)121 issues a requestfor the transmission of data by a home server (A)100 to the home server(C)220. In this manner, the data transfer can easily be performed. Inthis embodiment, since the index information has already been providedfor the hand-held information terminal (A)101, the request for thefurther transmission of the index information need not be issued to thehome server (A)100.

The second embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment,except for the timing for the preparation of the index information, thethumbnail file and the data list information. According to the firstembodiment, as is shown in FIG. 8, when a data list request command istransmitted by the hand-held information terminal to the home server,the thumbnail file and the data list information for the data stored inthe home server are generated. Further, according to the firstembodiment, as is shown in FIG. 9, when an index information requestcommand is transmitted by the hand-held information terminal to the homeserver, the thumbnail file and the index information for the data storedin the home server are generated. Whereas, according to the secondembodiment, each time data are stored in the data storage unit 201 ofthe home server, index information for the pertinent data is generated,when the data represents an image or a moving picture, as in the firstembodiment, a thumbnail file is also generated, together with the indexinformation. The data list information is newly created the first timedata is stored in the data storage unit 201, and thereafter, each timedata is stored, information for the stored data is added to the datalist information that has been generated. When data is deleted from thedata storage unit 201 of the home server, the index information for thepertinent data is also deleted each time, and when a thumbnail file hasbeen provided for the deleted index information, the thumbnail file isalso deleted and information for the deleted data is erased from thedata list information.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing performed for the secondembodiment when data is stored in a data storage unit 201 of a homeserver (B)110. When data is stored in the data storage unit 201 of thehome server (B)110 (step S1201), the data is analyzed (step S1202) andthe index information shown in FIG. 6 is generated for the data (stepS1203). Then, a check is performed to determine whether the stored dataincludes a thumbnail (step S1204). When a thumbnail is included, athumbnail file is created (step S1205). Thereafter, a check is performedto determine whether data list information has already been prepared(step S1206). When data list information is not present, the data listinformation shown in FIG. 7 is generated (step S1207). When at stepS1206 data list information is present, information for the dataindicated by the data list information is additionally provided (stepS1208). Thereafter, the index information, the thumbnail file and thedata list information that have been generated are stored in the datastorage unit 201 (step S1209) and the processing is terminated.

According to the second embodiment, steps S803 to S807 in the processingin FIG. 8 and steps S907 to S910 in the processing in FIG. 9 can beeliminated. Therefore, the preparation of the data list information, theindex information and the thumbnail file is not required each time adata list request and an index information request is received, and theload imposed on the home server can be reduced.

The second embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment,with the exception that the components of the inter-server data transfersystem are slightly different. For the first embodiment, as is shown inFIG. 1, two hand-held information terminals are employed: the hand-heldinformation terminal of the owner of the home server at the datatransfer source and the hand-held information terminal of the owner ofthe home server at the data transfer destination. However, for thesecond embodiment, only the hand-held information terminal of the ownerof the home server at the data transfer source is employed.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a servercomputer system according to a third embodiment. A home server (C)1300is the same as the home server (A)100 in the first embodiment, ahand-held information terminal (C)1301 is the same as the hand-heldinformation terminal (A)101 in the first embodiment, a home server(D)1310 is the same as the home server (B)110 in the first embodiment,and the Internet 1320 is the same as the Internet 120 in the firstembodiment.

Index information for the third embodiment is prepared by combining theindex information in FIG. 6 and the data list information in FIG. 7 forthe first embodiment. Example index information used for this embodimentis shown in FIG. 14. As the index information in FIG. 14, an address1401 that indicates the location, such as the IP address, of the homeserver (C)1300 whereat the data are stored and information 1402concerning all the data that are stored in a data storage unit 201 ofthe home server (C)1300 are written in the XML form. The information1402 for the data is the same as that included in the index informationfor the first embodiment.

In the third embodiment, first, the hand-held information terminal(C)1301 transfers index information for the data stored in the homeserver (C)1300. This processing is shown in a flowchart in FIG. 15. Theprocessing in FIG. 15 is substantially the same as the processing inFIG. 9 for the first embodiment, with the exception that the process forgenerating index information is slightly different. Upon receiving auser entry through an input unit 305, or a request from the system, thehand-held information terminal (C)1301 generates an index informationrequest command and a server communication unit 301 transmits the indexinformation request command to the home server (C)1300 (step S1501). Itshould be noted that the index information request command includesidentification information for the hand-held information terminal(C)1301. When the home server (C)1300 receives the index informationrequest command issued at step S1501 (step S1502), the home server(C)1300 performs a device verification based on the identificationinformation for the hand-held information terminal (C)1301 that isincluded in the received index information request command (step S1503).In this case, for the device verification, the identificationinformation for the hand-held information terminal (C)1301 should beregistered in advance with the home server (C)1300.

When the device verification fails at step S1503, a hand-heldinformation terminal communication unit 203 transmits to the hand-heldinformation terminal (C)1301 an error message indicating the deviceverification has failed (step S1504). The server communication unit 301of the hand-held information terminal (C)1301 receives the error messageoutput by the home server 1300 at step S1504 (step S1505), and a messageindicating the device verification failed is displayed on a display unit306 (step S1506). The process sequence is thereafter terminated. Whenthe device verification is successful at step S1503, the data stored inthe data storage unit 201 is analyzed (step S1507). In the data analysisprocess at step S1507, a variety of information for the data, such asthe identification number and the type of data, and the presence/absenceof copyright information is analyzed. And when the data is image data, acheck is performed to determine whether a thumbnail is included in thedata, because some image data includes a thumbnail (step S1508). When athumbnail is included, only the thumbnail portion is extracted from thedata, and a thumbnail file is created (step S1509). When a thumbnail isnot included in the data at step S1508, or when a thumbnail file iscreated at step S1509, the index information shown in FIG. 15 isprepared based on the information obtained by the data analysis at stepS1507, the name of the thumbnail file prepared at step S1509 and theaddress, such as the IP address, indicating the location of the homeserver (C)1300 (step S1510). Then, a check is performed to determinewhether all the data stored in the data storage unit 201 of the homeserver (C)1300 have been analyzed (step S1511). When there areunprocessed data, program control returns to step S1507 and the aboveprocessing is repeated, and a variety of information concerning the datais added to the data list information.

When all the data have been analyzed, a hand-held information terminalcommunication unit 203 transmits the index information to the hand-heldinformation terminal 1301 (step S1512). At step S1512, when thethumbnail file was prepared at step S1509, this thumbnail file is alsotransmitted. In the hand-held information terminal (C)1301, the servercommunication unit 301 receives the index information and the thumbnailfile output at step S1512 (step S1513), and stores the receivedinformation and the file in an index information storage unit 307 (stepS1514). The process sequence is thereafter terminated.

According to the third embodiment, the index information and thethumbnail file obtained through the processing in FIG. 15 are displayedon the display unit 306. When the owner of the home server (D)1310 findsdesired data, the owner employs the input unit 305 of the hand-heldinformation terminal (C)1301 to designate the data. Thereafter, byperforming the processing shown in FIG. 11 for the first embodiment, arequest is issued for the transfer of the designated data from the homeserver (C)1300 to the home server (D)1310. As a result, the same effectsas are obtained for the first embodiment can also be provided for thethird embodiment, and the number of system components can be reduced.

According to the first to third embodiments, hand-held informationterminals are employed; however, the present invention can also beapplied for a system that employs ordinary information terminals. Thatis, a first information terminal (A)101 receives index information fromthe home server (A)100 and transmits the index information to a secondinformation terminal (B)111. Then, when a request for the transfer ofdata to the home server (B)110 is issued using the index information,data can easily be transmitted from the home server (A)100 to the homeserver (B)110.

With this arrangement, when a limit is imposed on the transfer of datafrom the home server (A)100 to the second information terminal (B)111,e.g., when the amount of data to be transferred exceeds the maximum datacapacity that is designated, or when the transfer of data to the secondinformation terminal (B)111 is not preferable because of the contents ofthe data, the index information need only be examined, and data can betransmitted directly to the home server (B)110 for which no such limitis imposed.

It should be further understood by those skilled in the art thatalthough the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of theinvention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A content transmission method, in a contenttransmission system in which a first information apparatus at a networkaddress is connected with a second information apparatus via thenetwork, comprising the steps of: verifying, by the first informationapparatus, a hand-held information terminal, which accesses the firstinformation apparatus via the network; receiving, by the hand-heldinformation terminal, identification information of a content and athumbnail of the content, both of which are stored in the firstinformation apparatus, in response to the verifying of the hand-heldinformation terminal; displaying, by the hand-held information terminal,the received identification information and the received thumbnail onthe hand-held information terminal as a content list; accepting, at thehand-held information terminal, selection of a content from thedisplayed content list; sending, by the hand-held information terminal,the identification information of the content selected from thedisplayed content list and the address of the first informationapparatus at which the content selected is stored, to the secondinformation apparatus; preparing, by the second information apparatus, acontent transmission request that is sent to the first informationapparatus, the content transmission request including the identificationinformation of the content selected and a destination network address towhich the first information apparatus will send the content; receiving,by the first information apparatus, the content transmission request forthe selected content; and transmitting, by the first informationapparatus, the selected content to the destination network addresscontained in the content transmission request via the network.
 2. Thecontent transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the firstinformation apparatus stores identification information of the hand-heldinformation terminal, and the verifying step performed by the firstinformation apparatus includes the substeps of: receiving theidentification information of the hand-held information terminal; andverifying the hand-held information terminal if the stored terminalidentification information coincides with the received terminalidentification information.
 3. The content transmission method accordingto claim 1, wherein the content transmission request is sent to anaddress of the first information apparatus, which is stored in thehand-held information terminal.
 4. The content transmission methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first information apparatus checkscopyright information of the selected content upon receipt of thecontent transmission request, and the first information apparatus deniestransmission of the selected content if the checked copyrightinformation indicates that transfer of the content is inhibited.
 5. Thecontent transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the firstinformation apparatus checks copyright information of the selectedcontent upon receipt of the content transmission request, and the firstinformation apparatus makes the hand-held information terminal displayan error that the content transfer is not permitted if the checkedcopyright information indicates that transfer of the content isinhibited.
 6. A content transmission method according to claim 1,wherein the first information apparatus sends to the hand-heldinformation terminal, along with the identification information of thecontent, an information generation number that is incremented each timethe identification information of the content is transferred, whereinthe information generation number of the transferring content is limitedup to a predetermined maximum generation number.
 7. A contenttransmission method according to claim 1, wherein the first informationapparatus creates identification information of a content in response toverification of the hand-held information terminal.
 8. A contenttransmission method according to claim 1, wherein the first informationapparatus creates the thumbnail based on the stored content, thethumbnail has its size such that the content can be displayed by thehand-held information terminal.
 9. A content transmission methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the hand-held information terminalcommunicates the second information apparatus via wireless LAN orinfrared red.
 10. A hand-held information terminal, configured to beconnected with a first information apparatus at a network address of acomputer network and a second information apparatus via the network,comprising: a network communication unit which sends own terminalidentification information to the first information apparatus via thenetwork; a reception unit which receives identification information of acontent and a thumbnail of the content, both of which are stored in thefirst information apparatus, if the hand-held information terminal isverified by the first information apparatus based on the sent terminalidentification information; a display unit which displays the receivedidentification information and the thumbnail of the content as a contentlist; an input unit which accepts a selection of the content from thedisplayed content list; and an identification information transmittingunit which transmits the received identification information of theselected content and the address of the first information apparatus tothe second information apparatus such that the second informationapparatus transmits to the address of the first information apparatus acontent transmission request that specifies the selected content, thecontent transmission request including a destination network address towhich the first information apparatus sends the selected content via thenetwork in response to the content transmission request.
 11. Thehand-held information terminal according to claim 10, wherein thehand-held information terminal is verified if the terminalidentification information stored in the first information apparatuscoincides with the terminal identification information sent from thenetwork communication unit of the hand-held information terminal to thefirst information apparatus.
 12. The hand-held information terminalaccording to claim 10, wherein the content transmission request is sentby the hand-held information terminal to an address of the firstinformation apparatus, which is stored in the hand-held informationterminal.
 13. The hand-held information terminal according to claim 11,wherein the content transmission request is denied if the firstinformation apparatus checks copyright information of the selectedcontent upon receipt of the content transmission request and the checkedcopyright information indicates that transfer of the content isinhibited.
 14. The hand-held information terminal according to claim 8,wherein the display unit displays an error message that the contenttransfer is not permitted as an answer to the content transmissionrequest if the first information apparatus checks copyright informationof the selected content upon receipt of the content transmission requestand the checked copyright information indicates that transfer of thecontent is inhibited.
 15. A first information apparatus at a networkaddress of a computer network, the first information apparatusconfigured to be connected with a second information apparatus via thenetwork, the first information apparatus comprising: a storage unit,which stores a content; a network communication unit, which receivesidentification information of a hand-held information terminal from thehand-held information terminal via the network; a verification unit,which verifies the hand-held information terminal based on the terminalidentification information received at the network communication unit; atransmission unit, which transmits identification information of thecontent and a thumbnail of the content stored in the storage unit to thehand-held information terminal, if the hand-held information terminal isverified by the verification unit; a reception unit, which receives acontent transmission request from the second information apparatus whichhad received the address of the first information apparatus and theidentification information of the content selected at the hand-heldinformation terminal from a content list generated based on theidentification information and thumbnail of the content, the contenttransmission request including the identification information of theselected content and a destination network address to which the selectedcontent will be sent; and a content transmission unit, which transmitsthe selected content to the destination network address included in thecontent transmission request, via the network.
 16. The first informationapparatus according to claim 15, wherein the storage unit storesidentification information of the hand-held information terminal, andthe verification unit verifies the hand-held information terminal if thestored terminal identification information coincides with the terminalidentification information received from the hand-held informationterminal.
 17. The first information apparatus according to claim 15,wherein an address of the first information apparatus is notified to thehand-held information terminal such that the hand-held informationterminal sends the content transmission request to the notified address.18. The first information apparatus according to claim 15, furthercomprising: a copyright information checking unit, which checkscopyright information of the selected content upon receipt of thecontent transmission request, wherein the copyright information checkingunit denies transmission of the selected content if the checkedcopyright information indicates that transfer of the content isinhibited.
 19. The first information apparatus according to claim 15,further comprising: a copyright information checking unit which checkscopyright information of the selected content upon receipt of thecontent transmission request, wherein the copyright information checkingunit sends to the hand-held information terminal error information thatthe content transfer is not permitted if the checked copyrightinformation indicates that transfer of the content is inhibited.
 20. Acontent transmission method for sending content over a computer network,the method comprising: receiving, at a hand-held information terminal onthe computer network, identification information of content stored at afirst information apparatus at a network address of the computernetwork; displaying, at the hand-held information terminal, the receivedidentification information as a content list; sending, by the hand-heldinformation terminal to the second information apparatus, identificationinformation of content selected at the hand-held information terminalfrom the content list of the received content and the network address ofthe first information apparatus at which the content is stored; sending,by the second information apparatus to the first information apparatus,a content transmission request, the content transmission requestincluding the identification information of the content selected and thenetwork address of a content transfer destination on the network; andtransmitting, by the first information apparatus, the content selectedto the network address of the content transfer destination.